


obliviously in love

by aiyah



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Humor, M/M, Sisterly Distress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-11
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:48:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25843840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aiyah/pseuds/aiyah
Summary: Because Katara's 100% sure that Sokka and Zuko are just best friends, right?(Right?)... Make that 99%.[alternatively: that one verse where everyone else is unaware]
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), background Aang/Katara
Comments: 51
Kudos: 1280





	obliviously in love

**Author's Note:**

> for foxxy. 
> 
> inspired by [this post about everyone else being oblivious](https://donvex.tumblr.com/post/624846055026147328/so-we-are-all-fans-of-zuko-and-sokka-being-the). i just had to, okay? ~~just had to.~~
> 
> i came up with this while picking out fish bones from my mom's _misoyaki_. just goes to show the muse really can strike anywhere ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

“Niyok, look! It’s _him_.”

Katara’s in line at the sushi burrito food truck when she first hears them talking. It’s the same thing she’s heard hundreds of times, but it doesn’t get any less annoying, especially when she’s standing next to the guy they’re all talking about. _Oh, here we go again_.

“By La’s right fin, isn’t he hot?”

“He _totally is_.”

“Shh! He might hear you.”

“Nini, be quiet!”

And before Katara can turn around to shoot her patented I-Can-Hear-You-Perfectly™ glare at the chittering girls behind her, a firm hand grasps her sleeve, pulling her back.

“Zuko—” and Katara looks up at her friend with pleading eyes. _Please_ , she implores silently. _Let me at them_.

“It’s not worth it, Katara.” Zuko lets go of her arm. He reaches up to run his hand through his jet-black hair, gathering and tying it into a short ponytail that dangles at the nape of his neck. Katara takes the chance to really, _really_ take a good look at her friend.

Tall? Yup.

Dark? Getting there.

Handsome? You’d probably have to be blind not to notice Zuko’s good looks. (And even Toph—someone who’s actually blind—still says that Zuko’s pretty attractive). And sure—if smoldering amber eyes paired with a pensive look are your thing, then go for it.

The two of them shuffle forward in line and Zuko begins rattling off his absurdly complicated order to the woman in the window. Katara takes a moment to think back to meeting Zuko for the first time, back when she was a wee freshman and he was a broody junior. It’s been over a year since that first anthropology class that brought the two of them together, but even Katara finds herself starstruck by Zuko’s looks from time to time.

“—and some spicy mayo on the side,” Zuko finishes, poking Katara in the arm. “Do you know what you want?”

“Uh, I’ll have whatever he’s having, I guess,” Katara smiles at the woman manning the food truck.

“Thanks for treating me,” she says to Zuko as they walk off to the side to wait. Zuko smiles at her, his eyes all soft. Katara can hear quiet giggles and murmurs coming from the line behind them, and she rolls her eyes in annoyance. _So this is what gets all the girls in a tizzy_.

“Anything I can do for a friend,” Zuko replies. “Actually, I thought you usually ate lunch with your boyfriend?”

“Aang has some presentation events for his program, so I’m on my own.”

“Well, I’m honored that you chose to grace me with your presence today.”

“You don’t have to say it like that,” Katara scoffs. “Making it sound like a bad thing, I mean.”

“You’re overthinking again,” Zuko looks bemused. “Besides, I was going to be available for lunch anyways. I usually eat with Sokka, but he has a meeting with his senior design team. I was on my own.”

 _Sokka?_ Katara looks at Zuko in surprise. Yeah, she’s always known that her brother and Zuko are pretty good friends, but, like close enough for usual lunching? Now that’s something she wasn’t aware of. And Katara doesn’t like that. She’s supposed to be Sokka’s best friend, his closest confidant. _She’s his freaking sister, for Tui’s sake_.

(Nevermind the fact that she was the one who introduced the two of them to each other.)

Okay, now this Katara can explain. Zuko and Sokka? Pretty much like fire and ice, especially if you consider how Zuko’s a complete Shakespearean nerd who spends most of his waking hours reading books in the library, while Sokka's usually be found drowning in his coding projects in the engineering quad. The first time the two had met—and over bubble tea at Katara’s favorite shop, no less—was a complete disaster. Sokka hadn’t even made it three steps into the shop before Zuko had managed to choke on his drink, leaving a frantic Katara rushing to perform a rudimentary Heimlich she learned in her EMT class and a concerned Sokka two thumbs away from calling 911.

(So yeah. Not exactly the best first impression.)

Needless to say, Katara didn’t exactly have high hopes for that friendship—but somehow, against all odds, those two idiots managed to make it work. It’s honestly a miracle that the Zuko and Sokka can even find time to relax, let alone _hang out with each other_ , especially considering how their schedules are literally night and day. (Or day and night, if Katara’s going to follow the rules of parallelism. Does her older brother even know what the sun actually looks like? Feels like? Smells like? Good question.)

The woman in the food truck calls out Zuko’s name, and Katara watches as he strides up to the window to retrieve their food. The gaggle of girls have migrated under the shade of a nearby tree, shooting glares at Katara as she walks past them.

_Jealous much?_

Katara finds them a place to sit and Zuko slides down next to her, wordlessly handing her a paper-wrapped parcel before opening his own and digging in. The smell of spicy tuna mixed with _nori_ fills the air and sinks into Katara’s nose. She wastes no time to tear open her own sushi burrito and takes a huge bite, eyes watering at the spice.

“Really? Sokka?” is all Katara manages to babble after swallowing her first bite.

“Yes? I believe it’s normal for people going out to eat together.” Zuko sounds like he’s talking about something as normal as the _sakura_ blossoms blooming around them. Katara proceeds to almost choke on her second bite of her sushi burrito. It’s not from the spicy mayo this time.

 _Going out?_ No way. There’s—there’s, like, literally no way. _Zuko probably doesn’t mean it like that_ , Katara’s reasonable voice echoes in her head. _He probably thinks it’s literal. A literal going-out. Like everything else in life. Only spirits know why he chose to be an English major in the first place. I thought everything was supposed to be subjective._

“Going out where?” Katara tries to continue the conversation. She hopes her voice isn’t as wobbly as it sounds.

“Nowhere in particular,” Zuko looks off into the distance, eyes wistful. “Usually a bar or a café. Or we go to the park to eat so that Druk can run around.”

(Oh, so he _did_ mean going out to eat. Right.)

Katara tries to think up the best response as she takes another bite. “Well, I’m glad that you have such a great relationship with Sokka. It’s great that my brother has friends like you.”

“No,” Zuko counters, shaking his head slightly and blushing. It’s a look that Katara isn’t used to seeing. “I’m the one who should be thankful. Sokka’s been so wonderful to me.”

“My brother? Wonderful?” Katara resists the urge to scoff. “You sure we’re talking about the same guy? Sokka, really?”

“I suppose that sisters just have a different perspective on their brothers,” Zuko shrugs. He finishes his burrito and wraps up the paper into a neat square. “I’m sure Azula would say the same thing about me.”

“She really would, though.” Katara can practically hear Azula whining about her older brother.

“Exactly.”

“But yeah.” Katara chews thoughtfully. “Thanks again, by the way. For the meal, I mean.”

“It’s been my pleasure.” Zuko crosses his legs. “I always enjoy getting food with you.”

“Remind me again why we don’t do this more often?”

“Because you’re usually busy with Aang?”

“Right.” Katara folds up her paper wrapper into a tiny ball and tosses it into a nearby trash can. “You make it sound like I have no life outside of hanging out with my boyfriend.”

“I hardly get the chance to meet up with you anyways.” Zuko’s lips curl into a wan smile. “You nursing students always have early clinicals, and my thesis itself has been taking up quite a bit of time as well.”

Katara’s ears perk up. She’s been a fan of Zuko’s writing ever since he showed her his final portfolio for his creative poetry seminar last semester. “Oooh, what’re you writing about?”

“I’m actually writing my own play for the creative writing program. It’s called _Love amongst Dragons_ , and it’s about the—” and Zuko’s off, eyes gleaming as he rambles on about the play he’s drafting for his honors thesis. Katara just sits back on the bench and drinks it all in.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

Katara rounds the corner towards her apartment and almost drops her grocery bags in surprise.

“Sokka? What’re you doing outside?”

Her brother looks up from his seat in front of their apartment door. Sokka yanks out his earbuds, the sounds of Studio Ghibli jazz remixes flooding the hallway. Katara notices a foil-covered something sitting on top of his backpack.

“So I might’ve left my keycard in the lab,” Sokka balks when Katara raises an eyebrow at him.

“How many times have you—”

“Not on purpose, y’know! I’ll go back to grab it later, but, like, I really could use your help right now.” Sokka wrings his hands. Katara doesn’t think she’s ever seen her brother so frazzled.

“What do you need help with?”

“Do we have pliers at home?”

“Pliers?” _Pliers_ _?_ Katara pauses to think. “What do you need pliers for? And wait, aren’t you the EECS major?”

“Just ‘cuz I’m in electrical engineering doesn’t mean I do electrician things, Katara.”

“Fair.” Katara motions for her brother to get out of the way before she taps her keycard against the door with a satisfying _ding_. “I guess you can come in.”

“Gee. Thanks for the warm welcome home, Kat.”

“Don’t call me that, Socks.”

“Someone’s antsy.”

“I’m not antsy,” Katara replies, slipping her grocery bags onto a table before heading towards the drawer filled with miscellaneous things. “I’m just wondering why you didn’t bother to text me first. I could’ve gotten home a lot earlier and let you in.”

“It’s fine. I knew you were coming home around now. Plus, Fishy couldn’t wait.”

“Fishy?”

“Yeah, my fish.” Sokka holds up a giant, foil-wrapped baking tray. Katara can smell something earthy and aromatic. It doesn’t smell anything like a fish, and her Sokka-sensor immediately flies into red alert.

“ _Sokka Qanik, I swear_ —”

“Don’t get mad at Fishy!” Sokka clutches the baking tray protectively against his chest. “He didn’t choose this life! Oh, by the way, did you know that Cabbage Corp. had a sale on black cod today?”

(Classic Sokka, just flying off a tangent.)

“No?” Katara’s always been more of a Trader Joe’s type of girl. “Why does that matter? And why did you need pliers, anyways?”

“Uh, ‘cuz I promised Zuko I was gonna make him _misoyaki_. But I forgot to ask the guy at the fish counter to debone the fish.”

“ _Sokka_.” Katara lets out a sigh of exasperation, pausing her excavation of the drawer. She’s found a roll of ticket stubs and some expired coupons, but no pliers.

“Okay, okay! Maybe I thought I could do it on my own or something. Like, being independent and all that.” Sokka places the tray gently on the kitchen counter. “But, like, stupid fingers, amirite?”

“And you’re looking for pliers. Pliers that—” and Katara slams the drawer shut for grand effect, “—we don’t have. Sorry.”

“Aw, man.” Sokka actually looks disappointed. “I don’t wanna debone the fish by myself. It’ll ruin everything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, going in and taking out the bones? No thank you.”

Katara’s puzzled. “Shouldn’t that be pretty easy?”

“But it’s _messy_. And I can’t serve Zuko _messy fish_. That’s not fair to him. Or Fishy.”

“I thought you liked to get your hands dirty.”

“Sometimes, but not now. Not when I’m trying to make food for Zuko. It’s gotta look good, Kat. And it’ll look terrible if I did it with my hands.”

Katara rummages around another drawer. “Not if you use chopsticks.”

“For real?”

“Sokka,” Katara sighs. “Don’t you remember Mom teaching us how to use chopsticks to take out the bones? And how I sucked at it for the longest time?”

“Yeah, but I never had to do it!”

“That’s because Dad always cleaned the fish while you were messing around with the cooler. And also, because Mom and I already prepared everything for dinner.” Katara has far too many memories of fish-deboning and shrimp-peeling in the kitchen sink back home.

“Okay, okay. But still.” Sokka’s staring at her with imploring eyes. “Do you think you can help me?”

“Sure,” Katara says apprehensively. What she really wants to do is to remind her brother that she has a very nice date with her boyfriend tonight, but as always—Sokka takes priority.

(That, and the fact that Katara can’t trust her brother with anything in the kitchen. Sokka has an unfortunate tendency to burn everything to a crisp, and Katara’s not about to deal with the fire alarm before her date with Aang.)

“Just give me a second.” Katara shifts her attention towards the baking tray. She lifts up an edge of the foil and jumps in surprise. The smell of _miso_ lingers heavily in the air and overpowers the remnants of her olfactory system. “ _Did you already add miso to this fish?_ ”

“Uh, I had someone at the fish counter help me prep it.”

“And just how much miso did they add?”

“It’s supposed to be _marinated_ , Kat. So, like, a good amount?” Sokka scratches his head nervously, wolftail drooping. “Like, I followed Nobu’s recipe and everything when I talked to them. So it should be right?”

“And you’re sure about that.” Katara wrinkles her nose before uncovering the entire tray with one sweep of her wrist. True to Sokka’s word, there’s an entire fish lying there, covered in globs of caramel-colored _miso_. The smell of _sake_ and sugary-sweet wafts over the entire tray.

Fishy’s dead eye stares straight into Katara’s (very much) living ones.

“Sokka,” Katara says quietly. “You said you used Nobu’s recipe, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Did it say to use an _entire fish?_ ”

“Um.” A pause, and Sokka’s scrolling through his phone. He looks up at Katara guiltily. “Um, it says—it says fillets.”

“I can’t even—”

“Okay! Okay! I’ll figure it out! You just need to cut up the fish, right?” It’s Sokka’s turn to poke around his backpack until he retrieves a knife glistening in its plastic sheath. “Lucky for me—”

_Why did he—? How did he—? An actual knife—? Backpack? Why does my brother have literally zero common sense? Hello? Safety first?_

Katara and her inner nursing student self are _this_ close to passing out.

“ _Sokka Qanik_.” She snarls under her breath. “ _Put down the knife_.”

Sokka drops the knife immediately, eyes widening at Katara’s deadly tone.

“ _I’ll_ fillet _and_ debone the fish.” Katara pulls out a knife and a cutting board. “You just… sit tight, okay? Shouldn’t take that long.”

As Katara turns back towards the fish and prepares her sharpest knife for the grueling task ahead, she can hear an audible sigh of relief coming from the couch.

Another day, another crisis averted from Sokka’s tornado of chaotic good.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

“We’re moving in together,” Sokka announces proudly to everyone gathered in the living room.

“Who?”

“What?”

“ _Shush_ , I’m trying to concentrate.” Suki waves a finger wildly above her head, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she surveys the sea of _mahjong_ tiles in front of her.

Aang sits across from her, his arms crossed in frustration. “No, keep talking!”

Toph groans from her perch between Aang and Suki. “It’s gonna be fine, twinkletoes.”

“Suki can’t win again! She’s won, what, like, five times already?”

“Aang, _be quiet_.”

“Make me.”

“Katara, tell your boyfriend to _be quiet so I can make my move in peace_.”

“Sweetie,” Katara turns towards him, eyes pleading to keep the peace. “ _Please_.”

“Fine. But don’t blame me if she ends up winning by self-picking again.”

“And so what?” Katara shoots him an I-Can-Hear-You-Perfectly™ glare.

Aang meeps quietly.

Suki deftly swipes a tile from the tile wall, face beaming with excitement. She flips all of her tiles over with one hand, grinning from ear to ear. “Ha! _Hu_ again, y’all.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“ _Fuck_.”

“Language, Toph.”

“Okay, fine. _What the fresh fuck?_ ”

“Is anyone listening? _I just said that we’re moving in together_ ,” Sokka yells over the sudden chaos boiling in the tiny room as poker chips fly this way and that.

“ _You never told us who_ ,” Toph screams back. “ _So why should I care?_ ”

“ _I’m moving in with Zuko next year_.”

Silence drops like a cannonball.

Katara’s the first to recover. “Wait, what?”

“I said, I’m moving—”

“ _We heard you the first time_.”

“Toph, calm yourself.”

“I thought you were going to room with Jet next year?” Suki asks as she hauls in her winnings and begins to stack up her chips in neat piles.

“Yeah, but the situation’s changed. Jet’s not going to be in San Fran anymore.”

“But I thought Zuko was in—”

“Yeah, he was supposed to be in New York, but he just got reassigned.” Sokka grins dopily. “So we get to move in together! Isn’t that great?”

“I’m so happy for you, Sokka.” Katara knows just how much house hunting has been weighing on Sokka’s shoulders, and she can’t be more excited about the fact that her brother and his best friend are moving in together. (That, and the fact she can’t wait to finally be Sokka-free. Her brother isn't a messy roommate by any means, but there’s only so much of his chaos that Katara can handle at any one time. She can't wait to see how Zuko's going to handle Sokka's idiot energy.)

“Really?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No? It’s just that, y’know, I thought that, with you and Zuko and—” Sokka hesitates as he watches three pairs of eyes swivel in his direction. “Nevermind. Forget it.”

“What? I think that it’s such a smart idea, actually,” Aang says, clasping his hands together. “Just imagine all the money you’d be saving on rent. _Imagine_.”

“San Francisco does have a pretty high cost-of-living compared to most other places,” Suki shrugs. “Sounds like a win-win to me.”

“Hey, do you think I could, like, crash at y’all’s place this summer?” Aang continues excitedly. “Like, once my internship is confirmed. But I’m pretty sure they’re placing me in San Francisco.”

Katara watches as something washes over Sokka’s face. “Um, I mean you could, I guess?”

“That sounds fantastic! I’m looking forward to it,” Aang gets up from the table and slings an arm over Sokka’s shoulder. “It’ll be great, like a bachelor pad of our own, y’know?”

“ _Not exactly a bachelor pad_ ,” Sokka seems to mutter under his breath. Katara’s not so sure she heard her brother correctly before sweeps the thought out of her mind and focuses on the tiles in front of her. She’s not going to let Suki get away with another win this time.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

It’s a little past seven-thirty, and Katara’s Saturday morning is off to a great start. She’s already done some morning yoga and taken a brisk walk around the block, and her mind is all ready for the day of studying and assignments she’s planned out. Katara wraps her hands around the steaming mug of tea in front of her and inhales deeply, the aroma of cloudberry and cinnamon dancing around her senses.

It’s tranquil. It’s quiet. It’s just how Katara likes—

Something clatters to the floor with a loud _bang_.

 _Just how I like it_. Katara winces and takes a deep breath to calm herself. The mug of tea goes back onto the desk before she’s getting up from her chair, opening the door, and walking towards the kitchen.

Katara’s totally unprepared for the sight of Zuko standing over the kitchen counter, an army of bowls in various sizes huddled around him. There are puffs of white dust floating in the air. It almost looks straight out of some comedy movie if the situation itself wasn’t so ridiculous.

“I don’t even—” Katara begins, and Zuko practically leaps in the air with surprise as he whirls around to face her. He’s wearing a black shirt that practically reaches his knees, the words “ _i'm dumbass_ ” sketched over the front in white letters with an arrow pointing straight up to his face. There’s a streak of pancake batter painted on Zuko’s cheek that looks like some half-assed war paint.

 _Oh spirits. He's half-naked_.

“I don’t even—” Katara repeats again, but she loses her ticket to her train of thought once again. She has no idea why Zuko, of all people on this spirit-given earth, is standing _half-naked in her kitchen_.

Wait a minute. She totally does. _She totally does_.

The memories come back to her slowly, like some old-timey movie or something. Katara recalls going out for dinner with Aang and coming home late at night, only to see Sokka and Zuko huddled on the couch. The two of them were watching reruns of _Star Trek_ on Netflix, and Katara vaguely remembers how Zuko had fallen asleep against Sokka’s shoulder. Sokka had made some shushing motion towards her, and Katara had quietly made her way past the couch and into her room.

 _So Sokka must’ve let him stay the night_. So makes perfect sense why Zuko’s here.

( _And at least it’s Zuko and not some random girl_ , Katara thinks to herself. There’s no reason to freak out right now and wake up the entire complex of hungover college kids. No reason at all.)

So Katara takes the next acceptable course of action and facepalms. “Please tell me that you’re wearing underwear.”

“Um, yes. Yes, I am,” Zuko croaks out. “Thank you for your… concern.”

_Concern? For you? I’m mostly concerned about my eyes, thank you very much. And my brain cells. Oh spirits, how am I supposed to study today?_

Katara can feel her entire perfect day disappearing right before her very eyes.

 _You can handle this, Katara_ rewinds into her mind like a neverending mantra. _You can handle this_.

“Okay,” Katara says, because what else are you supposed to say when your brother’s best friend is just standing there in your kitchen wearing only _that?_ “Do you need help, Zuko?”

“Maybe?” Zuko places the bowl on the counter. “I was going to make breakfast, but as you can see, I’m not the best at this.” He punctuates his explanation with a bashful smile, a rosy glow dappling over his cheeks and across his scar.

And it’s at this point when the logical, nursing side of Katara takes over her motor functions.

“Bacon’s in the fridge, left side. Eggs are on top. I’ll handle the pancakes,” she motions quietly, picking up the bowl and walking towards the stovetop with stiff steps.

 _At least he didn’t turn on the burner before I showed up_ , Katara tells herself as she heats up a pan and drops in a dollop of butter, watching pale yellow melt into a glossy sheen over the pan.

“Cool shirt, by the way,” Katara says, trying to make sense of the whole awkward situation. “Where’d you get it?”

“It’s… it’s actually not mine,” Zuko mumbles quietly, and Katara nearly drops her ladle in surprise.

 _I didn’t know that they were that close_.

“Cool beans,” Katara replies, all cognitive abilities effectively yeeted out of the window. Seriously. She wouldn’t even be surprised if Zuko just spontaneously burst into flames at this point.

Katara can see Zuko fumbling with the eggs in his hands out of the corner of her eye. _As long as he doesn’t break them_ —

An egg rolls out of Zuko’s arms and gleefully makes its way towards the floor with a loud _splat_.

 _Maybe I spoke too soon_.

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

The bell on the apartment door rings loudly. Katara drops her necklace into its box and rushes out of her room to answer it.

“Y’all ready to go?” Toph taps her foot impatiently. “Suki made me _straighten my hair_ for this stupid thing.”

“It’s a formal, and _no_ , I didn’t force you to do anything. I just said that your hair would look nice if you put it down,” Suki retorts.

“Guys, can we all calm down, okay?” Katara resists the urge to reach up and touch her face. She’s not about to mess up the makeup she’s spent hours working on. (And do you know just how hard it is to get the perfect cat-eye? Especially when you don’t use makeup on a daily basis? Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy? More like lemon-lemon difficult.)

“Where’s Sokka?” Toph stomps. “This was all his idea anyways, going to the stupid banquet or whatever for his engineering council bullshit.”

“It’s the _engineering formal_ , and do I have to remind you that this was also my idea?” Suki looks down at her, nose twitching in irritation.

“Whatever. You wanna take credit for this, go ahead.”

“Please. Both of you. You can come in to sit for a bit. I’ll go ask Sokka how much longer he needs.” Katara ushers both of her friends into the living room and onto the couch. She smooths down the front of her dress and walks briskly towards Sokka’s bedroom, knuckles rapping on the door.

No response.

“Sokka? I’m coming in,” Katara calls out before she pushes in on the door and braces for impact. Her brother’s room is surprisingly clean, although the fortress of textbooks perched on his desk is just the slightest bit concerning.

“Sokka?” Katara peers around the room and towards the tiny balcony, the screen door halfway open. In the warm sunlight of late afternoon, she can see Sokka standing there, talking to someone else.

_It’s Zuko._

Katara inches just a bit closer, wondering what her brother and his best friend are up to—although by the looks of it, it’s anything but _just_ best friends. Zuko's leaning against Sokka’s shoulder, black hair blending in with the dark suit that Sokka’s wearing for the formal. Katara doesn’t need to get any closer to realize just how her brother's arm is curled around Zuko’s waist, how their heads nestle together like puzzle pieces, how Sokka’s pointing to something up in the sky and back towards Zuko, twin peals of laughter echoing into the clouds. There’s just something so beautiful, so affectionate about it all.

And when Sokka moves to press a tiny kiss against Zuko’s forehead, Katara won’t say that she definitely did _not_ let out a gasp right there and then.

For the first time in her life, she's at a complete loss for words.

 _So, this is how it is_.

There’s no point in disturbing them any further. Katara makes up her mind and tiptoes out of the bedroom before closing the door behind her. Toph and Suki look confused when she returns to the living room.

“Where’s Sokka?” Toph whines. “I wanna go _now_.”

“Um, maybe we should go on ahead first,” Katara coughs delicately. “Sokka’s a bit—how should I put this— _busy_ right now. Let’s just... go meet up with Aang, okay?”

If Toph and Suki sense something’s up, they don’t say anything as they shuffle out of the apartment. Katara looks back at the door before she rounds the corner towards the elevator.

 _Good luck, Socks_.

(And if Katara almost catches them kissing in the corner of the dance hall, well, she’s not about to tell anyone else about it.)

△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽△▽

“Oh my spirits, _he’s standing right there!_ ”

“Ming-Ming, don’t be so loud about it!”

Katara’s back in line at the sushi burrito food truck once again when she hears the girls behind her tittering. It’s the same thing she’s heard thousands of times, but it’s gotten a little less annoying, especially when she’s standing behind the guy who they’re all talking about. _Just wait. You’ll see_.

“He’s _so freaking hot_.”

“Could you imagine if he just came over to us right now?”

“Giya, you’re thinking way too much about it!”

Katara watches as Sokka turns around and smiles at the gaggle of girls. “Hello, ladies. I can’t help but overhear your lovely conversation, and while I’m flattered—” he pauses, “—I’m actually taken.”

“Psh, you think we were talking about _you?_ ” One of the girls in the group scoffs.

“You really thought that, didn’t you?” Another one chimes in.

“Oh. By any chance, are you talking about my _absolutely adorable boyfriend_ here?” Sokka whisks Zuko around gracefully, sapphire eyes gleaming as Zuko’s amber eyes blink in utter confusion. “Because if you are, I’m sorry. He’s also taken.”

And with that, Sokka dips Zuko down into a back-bending kiss.

Everyone gasps. Katara smirks at the girls.

 _Gotcha_.

**Author's Note:**

> as always, kudos/comments will get you everywhere :DD


End file.
